Page:The Depths of the Sea - Wyville - 1873.djvu/19

Rh and Dr. M'Intosh, for information courteously supplied.

The whole of the illustrations in the book—with the exception of the vignettes of Fæ̈roe scenery for which I am indebted to the accomplished pencil of Madame Holten—are by my friend Mr. J. J. Wild. I need scarcely thank him for the admirable way in which he has accomplished his task, for every figure was with him a labour of love, and I almost envy him the gratification he must feel in the result. To Mr. J. D. Cooper I owe my sincere thanks for the singularly faithful and artistic rendering of Mr. Wild's beautiful drawings on the wood-blocks.

On the return of the 'Porcupine' from her last cruise, so much interest was felt in the bearings of the new discoveries upon important biological geological and physical problems, that a representation was made to Government by the Council of the Royal Society, urging the despatch of an expedition to traverse the great ocean basins, and take an outline survey of the vast new field of research—the bottom of the sea.

Rear-Admiral Richards, C.B., F.R.S., the Hydrographer to the Navy, warmly supported the proposal, and while I am writing a noble ship is lying at Sheerness equipped for scientific research under his wise and liberal directions, as no ship of any nation was ever equipped before.